This post was originally published on this site

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

(Image credit: American Meat Institute )

A few weeks ago, I had a very illuminating conversation with a few friends on bacon.

We got on the topic because we were talking about meal planning, and how it’s been the answer to budgeting and cooking fatigue. Everyone in the car was newly or nearly 30, so it felt like an all-around appropriate conversation to have.

Then my friend Allison, a person who always teaches me something new about cooking with her elegant and effortless way of going about it, described how once she started eating meat again, bacon became her key to stress-free weeknight meals. Her recipe for beans and greens starts with “one pound bomb-ass bacon, cut up into large bits and sautéed in a cast iron skillet until crispy; drain and save half the liquid fat for cooking and leave the rest with the bacon.”

Another friend brought up Brussels sprouts and bacon. Later, I had a friend call asking about a way to use up the bacon fat she had saved from a string of weekend brunches. We are all talking about bacon as a component of a meal, as the starter or a topping. For some, it was the only meat they ever really got around to making. My own cooking habits are similar — bacon, for the most part, is seasoning and condiment and never really the star. Why and how we made these choices that led us to cook with bacon this way was certainly a function of flavor, but cost was pacing at the same level of priority. So I asked everyone this: Is bacon the most economical way to eat meat?

I got yeses all around.

READ MORE »

Be Nice and Share!

Filed under: Fitness